gPROMS ProcessBuilder is a unified equation-oriented process modelling
environment for applications across the plant, from complex catalytic
reaction and separation to wastewater treatment and utilities. The new
version 1.2 updates ProcessBuilder’s steady-state and dynamic process
modelling capabilities, and adds a new high-fidelity rate-based
separation model library as well as new libraries for wastewater
treatment plant design and design and operational analysis of site
utilities systems. A new Olefins library enables detailed modelling and
optimisation of ethylene plant cracking furnaces.

ProcessBuilder 1.2 also beings a step change in the ability to include
detailed reactor models within process flowsheets for simultaneous
design and economic optimisation of reactor and separation sections.
PSE’s industry-leading Fixed-Bed Catalytic Reactor library has been
significantly upgraded, and a new Trickle-Bed Reactor library now allows
design of wetted-surface catalytic reactions such as benzene
hydrogenation, hydrotreating and Fischer-Tropsch synthesis.

Built on PSE’s state-of-the art gPROMS® 5.0 modelling
platform, ProcessBuilder 1.2 also includes powerful new features such as
global system analysis (GSA) and high-performance computing (HPC). GSA
enables easy, systematic exploration of the complex process decision
space using high-fidelity models, making it possible to rapidly assess
risks under uncertainty and screen and rank process design and operation
alternatives.

HPC brings new power for computationally-intensive calculations,
allowing users fully to exploit multi-processor/multi-core machines in
order to accelerate large-scale optimisation and GSA applications. A new
dynamic solver accelerates execution of dynamic simulation, optimisation
and parameter estimation activities by factors of up to 5.

Costas Pantelides, PSE CEO, says “Our mission is to put powerful tools
in the hands of sophisticated users who want to move beyond the
heat-and-material balance capabilities of traditional process
simulators. A major thrust of current developments is the support of
high-value applications capable of significantly improving process
economics. Next generation large-scale optimisation and analysis
techniques mean that it is now possible to revisit many processes that
were considered already optimised, and generate substantial new value.”